Turkey Is Not Just For Thanksgiving
(Le Mars) — Turkey is most often associated with the Thanksgiving holiday.
However, an agricultural economist says the consumption of turkey, and turkey products, have broaden to the point there is a constant demand for the product, all year round. Dave Miller is the Director of Research and Commodity Services for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. He says turkey meat is used extensively in fast food deli restaurants.
Miller says exports of U-S turkey meat has grown in recent years, which also has contributed to a need for year round turkey production, as opposed to as seasonal production.
The Farm Bureau Economist also attributes the higher demand for turkey to health-conscientious people looking for a high source of protein with low fat content. So, has turkey demand replaced some of the consumption of the traditional red meats such as pork and beef?
Miller says consumers can now find turkey as a substitute for breakfast sausage, burgers, chili, and many other meat items. Iowa ranks ninth in turkey production and fifth in turkey processing. Iowa supplies turkey to Jimmie John’s, and Subway deli fast food restaurants, and in the grocery store under
the brand name of Jimmy Dean.
Two Iowa Turkeys Travel To White House
(Ames) — Two Iowa turkeys are in Washington, D.C. today, as they made the trip on a plane. President Obama is scheduled to pick one to be part of the annual turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House.
That’s Greta Irwin of the Iowa Turkey Federation. The turkeys were hatched inmid-July and are about 18 weeks old.
President Obama will name the two Iowa birds that were sent his way this week, then one of the two will be featured in a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden early Wednesday afternoon. Both turkeys will go to live in Virginia after
the ceremony. Irwin flew on the same plane as the Iowa turkeys and she’ll accompany them to their new home.
President Lincoln declared a day of national Thanksgiving in 1863. According to the White House website, Lincoln offered clemency to a turkey that same year.
The National Turkey Federation has been presenting presidents with turkeys since 1948, but it seems President George H.W. Bush started the pardoning in 1989. The Iowa Turkey Federation has been selected six times to provide the presidential
turkey at Thanksgiving.
Ames Fires City Bus Driver Involved With Hitting Pedestrian
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The city of Ames says a bus driver who failed to report an accident last December that killed an Iowa State University student has been fired.
Benjamin Clague had been on paid administrative leave, earning more than $28,000 after the accident. He spent 30 days in jail after pleading guilty in August to failure to report an accident.
Prosecutors say they couldn’t prove a more serious charge because it was unclear whether Clague immediately knew he’d hit 18-year-old Emmalee Jacobs with the CyRide bus he was driving.
City officials said Wednesday they fired the 24-year-old Clague on Tuesday, several days after The Associated Press started inquiring about whether he remained employed.
Clague didn’t answer a phone number listed in his name. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to a message.
Lawsuit Challenges IDOT Authority With Writing Tickets
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A new filing seeks class-action status for a lawsuit challenging the Iowa Department of Transportation’s authority to issue traffic citations.
The Des Moines Register reports that Monday’s filing amended a lawsuit filed last week that seeks a court order barring the department’s officers from issuing tickets. A 1990 Iowa attorney general opinion said the officers’ authority is limited to drunken driving enforcement and enforcement of various
commercial motor vehicle regulations.
Monday’s filing says more than 20,000 tickets written by the officers in the past five years were illegally issued, which obligates the state to refund the fines and remove the wrongful convictions from motorists’ records.
Department spokeswoman Andrea Henry said Tuesday that it intends to “vigorously assert a number of defenses” on the merits of the case.
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